10/3/09 Mets vs. Astros

It's been a long time, I know.

            I arrived at the second to final game of the regular season and had time to waste before I would meet my friend Joe ( http://baseballexperiences.mlblogs.com ), so I decided to head to the player's entrance. Before I could get there I saw that the people were crowded near the fence, so that meant somebody was signing.

            I ran over there and saw that it was Anderson Hernandez, and he signed my 1st autograph.

            Soon after I met up with Joe. We decided to wait for one more player and then we'd go to the Rotunda. That player was Sean Green, and he signed my 2nd autograph.

Sean Green signing

            Apparently the Astros had a different entrance because as we were walking to the Rotunda we noticed a player who looked oddly familiar and he was heading to the first base VIP gate, it was Hunter Pence! He signed my 3rd autograph.

            After playing catch for a bit we got on line and went inside.

            The cages were up, but nobody was on the field.

 

Nobody on the field

            So Joe and I passed the time in the Sterling Club. A little bit later the Astros came out and started throwing. I got a spot on the railing next to the foul line and got Brad Moehler to throw me a random baseball lying on the field, my 1st ball.

Ball No. 308

            Only one pair was left throwing, well trio. They were Samuel Gervacio, Jose Valverde, and Wilton Lopez. I was in the empty Left Field Bleachers, so it was easy to get Samuel Gervacio to throw me my 2nd ball when they were done.

Ball No. 309

            I started playing for home runs after that, so I noticed that a ball landed on the batters' eye in Center Field. I ran over considering to use the glove trick, but I choose not to when I saw that an usher was coming to get it.

            I asked for the ball, and being that there were no other fans asking for it I got my 3rd ball tossed to me easily.

Ball from batter's eye

            I moved to the seats in Right-Center field because Left Field was getting slightly crowded. It turned out to be a mistake. There were a couple home runs hit in Left Field, while where I was there were none. I *did* get Edwin Maysonet to throw me a ball he picked up in shallow Center Field (100ft away or so), my 4th ball. Here is the distance (he is pointed to using the black arrow):

Distance from Edwin Maysonet

And here is the ball:

Ball No. 311            That was the last of baseballs for me during BP. I met Todd and Tim ( http://cookandsonbats.mlblogs.com ), who I had met in Chicago on August 17th. I spent the remaining time with them and Joe before the game started. We started off by the foul pole (where in the photo below Tim is showing off his new baseball):

Tim showing off his baseball

And then we worked our way to the Astros' dugout. We stood there for the end of BP, and while Joe and Todd got baseballs thrown to them, I got none. We decided to head over to the play area for Tim, and after he took some cuts I said goodbye to them for the time being and headed to the dugout because pre-game throwing was about to start.

            But I got no baseballs at the pre-game throwing, Joe did though. He went into the Sterling club as I recall and I waited for the first inning to try for a third out ball behind the Astros dugout. To pass the time I was sitting next to Todd and Tim, who were sitting in a section directly behind the dugout. I sat to their left because most third out balls end up being tossed to the outfield side. But Lance Berkman is un-predictable. When the third out was recorded, I realized that Lance was going in the home plate end of the dugout. I had to cut across Todd and Tim and run down. The problem was that they were in the 20th or so row, so I could only run down to around the 8th row, but Lance is un-predictable. He ended up tossing the ball right to me, right as I got there. Since it was the first inning, I was able to catch my 5th ball before the other people realized that baseballs do get given away.

            While walking back up to Tim and Todd, Todd took a photo of me:

Getting Third Out Ball 100309.jpg

And then I examined the spekled dirt pattern on the baseball:

Spekled Dirt Pattern on My 5th Ball 100309

            I spent the next while standing behind the plate going for foul balls with Joe, but it was empty. It was raining, and for some reason that I now forget, I went over to the Astros dugout before the rain delay. When the rain delay came, it was POURING. But then I remembered and got an idea.

            I bolted to the umpire tunnel, dodging people to get their in time. This pouring rain would make the baseballs the home plate umpire had be waterlogged. When I got there, Joe followed behind me and we both got baseballs from Damien Beal, my 6th ball.

Ball No. 313, Damien Beal

            Being soaking wet we ran into the Sterling Club to dry off. Everything was fine, except for being wet. After drying off we headed in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda and saw Todd holding a crying Tim. We tried cheering him up, but then found out that he was faking it. After Tim was done fake crying, we were able to sneak them into the Sterling club, which is where we spent the next while, drinking free milkshakes and playing catch in the fancy seats, which we were able to do for a couple minutes. We then wandered around, waiting for the game to start. When they finally started taking the tarp off, we went back behind the dugout to look at the middle-game throwing, during which I got nothing:

During Game Pre-Game Throwing

            Joe and I went back behind home plate to try for foul balls, and it was empty. There couldn't have been more than 20 people behind home plate, but not a single foul ball was hit into the Sterling Club. There was one foul ball that sailed directly over my head into the next tier, and that was all the action I got (Joe was luckier). Eventually I went over to the umpire's tunnel to try for one more Citi Field baseball. What happened next was odd.

            Damien Beal came in and took the baseballs out of his pouch. He handed one to Todd and Tim (also there), a couple other kids, Joe (also there), but not me. Apparently he had one last baseball in his pouch because he stopped, turned around, and tossed the ball in my direction. The ball fell into the tunnel, just beyond my glove. But then a second or two later my glove wasn't on my hand. One of the other umpires, Adrian Johnson, took my glove off of my hand when I wasn't looking. He took a couple steps in, and then turned around and grinned. This was the chance to get the ball! I pointed to the ball lying in the tunnel, and he turned around, placed the ball in my glove, and handed it back to me. And I had my 7th ball.

Ball No. 314, Damien Beal

Stats:

3 Citi Balls 10309

The

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • 7 MLB Balls Today
  • 3 MLB Autographs Today
  • 205 MLB Autographs in this Season
  • 244 Total Autographs in this Season
  • 314 MLB Balls in this Season
  • 335 Total Balls in this Season
  • 5 Thrown, 2 Hand-To-Hand
  • 4 BP, 2 During, 1 After
  • Attendance: 37,578 People
  • Competition Factor: 263,046
  • 6.54 Balls / 1 Game
  • 48 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
  • 38 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

5 Comments

nice post, Alex. by the way, in that picture of Tim, he's holding up our first ball ever at a Mets home game.
-Todd
http://cookandsonbats.mlblogs.com

By cookandsonbats on October 21, 2009 8:52 PM
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Cool entry, Alex. You always seem to be able to get into the fanciest of the fancy seats! I'll have to find out your secret when I visit New York next Spring. Congrats on a great season of snagging--I love the photos. Does someone take them for you during the games? I always find it hard to get good action photos of myself during BP.
~Matt
http://bloggingboutbaseball.mlblogs.com/

By bloggingboutbaseball on October 24, 2009 8:04 PM
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Alex, congrats on Jr. Ballhawk of the Year honors at mygameballs.com. Well-deserved.
-Todd

By cookandsonbats on November 3, 2009 6:56 PM
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Yo congrats on the jr. Ballhawk. u def. deserved it. Thanks again for everything this season, next year cant come soon enough! Im getting the last few posts up this weekend hopefully. When do u plan on posting? cant wait to read them, Joe

By baseballexperiences on November 5, 2009 7:16 PM
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Sorry for the delayed responses (and entries):
Todd- Yes that is Tim holding up the ball, if you want me to I can send you the photo. And thank you, I think that Tim is going to be a major contender in a couple years.
Matt- Thanks, and I'll most likely be visiting California in the summer so I may meet you at some point in 2010. And I carry around a camera in my pocket during BP while my dad brings a camera for himself, and he takes some photos of me during BP.
Joe- Thanks Joe, you deserved to be in the Top 3 too. At least the Yankees won. I went to games on: 10/4, 10/9, 10/17, 10/28, and then yesterday, so I have quite a lot to catch up on. I hope I'll write them all by next weekend.

By Alex on November 5, 2009 11:34 PM
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